[BOOK REVIEW] Amphigorey Too by Edward Gorey

Title:  Amphigorey Too

Author:  Edward Gorey

Genre: Horror / Fantasy


Year Published: 1975


Year Read: 2012


Series: Amphigorey #2

Publisher: Perigee Trade

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Death, Violence and Disturbing Imagery)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

EDWARD GOREY’S MOST DISTURBING STORIES PART TWO!

After reading the first volume of Edward Gorey’s “Amphigorey,” I decided to check out the second volume “Amphigorey Too” and see if my inner Edward Gorey fan girl self would enjoy this volume as much as the first volume.  I will admit that I was amazed at this second volume as it is just as disturbing and interesting as the first volume!

In this volume, there are a total of twenty stories collected by Edward Gorey, which includes:

1)      The Beastly Baby

2)      The Nursery Frieze

3)      The Pious Infant

4)      The Evil Garden

5)      The Inanimate Tragedy

6)      The Gilded Bat

7)      The Iron Tonic

8)      The Osbick Bird

9)      The Chinese Obelisks

10)  The Deranged Cousins

11)  The Eleventh Episode

12)  The Untitled Book

13)  The Lavender Leotard

14)  The Disrespectful Summons

15)  The Abandoned Sock

16)  The Lost Lions

17)  Story for Sara

18)  The Salt Herring

19)  Leaves from a Mislaid Album

20)  A Limerick

Just like the first volume, Edward Gorey has done a brilliant job with both writing and illustrating this book!  Edward Gorey’s writing has a sophisticated tone as the stories seem to take place in Old Victorian times and the writing greatly complements the creepy atmosphere of the stories such as using words like “atrocious,” “beastly,” and “abandoned” to really bring out the creepy situations of the stories.  Edward Gorey’s illustrations are just as effective as they were in the first volume as the coloring is in black and white.  Even though the characters look a bit simplistic, the images of the characters performing horrible deeds such as an image of a baby ripping off a cat’s head, is brilliantly done as the images are not too gory.  Some of my favorite stories in this volume were “The Beastly Baby,” “The Chinese Obelisks,” “Story for Sara,” and “The Disrespectful Summons.”

~Once again…~

THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR CHILDREN!

There is a lot of disturbing content in this volume that would scare small children such as images of characters ripping animals’ heads off and children being tortured and eaten by various threats.  Also, the writing might be too difficult for smaller children to really understand since it is written in a more sophisticated manner that contains many large words like “monotonous,” “innumerable” and “interred.”  The reason why I took off half a point from this book was because some of the stories like “The Iron Tonic,” and “The Salt Herring” were a bit boring to read through and sort of slowed down the stories for me.

Overall, “Amphigorey Too” is a great sequel to “Amphigorey” as it has enough disturbing content and sophisticated storytelling that will make Edward Gorey fans drool with anticipation!  I would recommend this book to older children and teens since there is so much disturbing content (characters being killed) that would disturb smaller children.

[BOOK REVIEW] Amphigorey by Edward Gorey

Title:  Amphigorey

Author: Edward Gorey


Genre: Horror / Fantasy


Year Published: 1972


Year Read: 2012


Series: Amphigorey #1

Publisher: Perigee Trade

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 10+ (Death, Violence, Disturbing Imagery and Sexual Situations)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

EDWARD GOREY’S BEST WORKS JAM-PACKED INTO ONE VOLUME!

After reading Edward Gorey’s morbid classic “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” (which is also surprisingly in this volume), I just had to read more of Edward Gorey’s works and I managed to pick up a volume of his works called “Amphigorey” and boy, was I amazed at the stories in this collection!

In this volume, there is a collection of fifteen stories written by Edward Gorey and they include:

1)      The Unstrung Harp

2)      The Listing Attic

3)      The Doubtful Guest

4)      The Object-Lesson

5)      The Bug Book

6)      The Fatal Lozenge

7)      The Hapless Child

8)      The Curious Sofa

9)      The Willowdale Handcar

10)  The Gashlycrumb Tinies

11)  The Insect God

12)  The West Wing

13)  The Wuggly Ump

14)  The Sinking Spell

15)  The Remembered Visit

Wow! I never would have thought that I would find part of the complete collection of Edward Gorey’s works since he noted at the introduction that most of his works were expensive and hard to find, so he made this compilation of all of his works, which was fine with me!  After reading most of his works in this volume, I have a greater appreciation for Edward Gorey’s writing style as the majority of stories he had written were truly morbid and gruesome to read through!  Just reading about murders and people dying of unnatural causes was just a treat for me to read since I love reading really morbid stories with effective illustrations!  Edward Gorey’s illustrations clearly compliment the dark and spooky mood of the stories as the colorings are all in black and white, which seems like something that came out of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies.  Some of my favorite stories in this volume were “The Fatal Lozenge,” “The Hapless Child,” “The Gashlycrumb Tinies,” “The Insect God” and “The Wuggly Ump.”

~A Little Warning~

THIS BOOK IS NOT EXACTLY FOR CHILDREN!

As I mentioned before, there are many images of characters being killed or dying of unnatural causes and also, there are many stories where children are killed or are being mistreated that could be disturbing for young children.  There is also a story called “The Curious Sofa” that implies that sexual activities between several characters are present.  Also, the reason why I took off half a point from this book was because I felt that some of the stories in this volume were a bit boring (“The Unstrung Harp” was my least favorite story) and some stories were a bit difficult to understand since the language is a bit old-fashioned for the modern audience.

Overall, “Amphigorey” is a great collection of stories for fans of Edward Gorey’s works and anyone who loves reading about morbid stories would definitely enjoy this collection!  I would recommend this volume to older children and teenagers since there are many disturbing moments in this collection and some young readers might not understand the sexual themes in “The Curious Sofa.”

   

[BOOK REVIEW] The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey

Title:  The Gashlycrumb Tinies

Author:  Edward Gorey


Genre: Horror / Fantasy / Sickness / Death

Year Published:  1963

Year Read:  2012

Series:  The Vinegar Works #1

Publisher:  Bloomsbury

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Depictions of Death)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Twenty-six different ways to die!

Now, I am no stranger when it comes to reading dark and morbid books for children since I had read children’s books such as “Halloween ABC” and “The Spider and the Fly” which were just as morbid. But “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” was one of the first children’s books I have read that is about several different ways for kids to die!  “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” is a picture book written and illustrated by Edward Gorey and it is a book that will truly cause every reader’s hairs to stick up at their ends!

This book is basically set up as reciting the alphabet by detailing every child’s name that starts with the letters of the alphabet and how each child dies, such as one poem about a boy named Basil being assaulted by bears.

Now, the moment you see the image of a skeleton dressed in a black overcoat and top hat carrying a black umbrella and looming over several children on the cover of this book, then you will know that this book is no ordinary book for children.  Edward Gorey has certainly created a unique and spooky children’s book that actually details how each child dies, which is a scary concept for young children and is usually not taken likely.  I really enjoyed the simplistic way that Edward Gorey had written this book as there are mostly about eight to ten words per page making it easier for children to get a grasp on the concept of this book.  I also enjoyed the fact that this book is used as a way to introduce the alphabet to children, just like how “Halloween ABC” introduced the alphabet to children in a morbid way.  Edward Gorey had done an excellent job at providing a dark and horrific atmosphere for this book as the majority of this book is focused on different ways a child dies and I may sound a bit morbid myself when I say this, but I really enjoyed seeing all the different ways that the characters were dying in this book.  Some of my favorite sentences in this book included:

“K is for Kate who was struck with an axe.

R is for Rhoda consumed by a fire.

Y is for Yorick whose head was knocked in.”

Edward Gorey’s illustrations are truly spooky and dramatic at the same time as the images are mainly in black and white colorings that truly give off the spooky feel of this book.  I really loved the way that Edward Gorey made the illustrations have an Old Victorian feel as the characters seem like they are drawn into an old-fashioned horror film.

THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR SMALL CHILDREN!

Parents should know that this book is a bit too scary for smaller children since it details the theme of death and it explores different ways that the children in this book die.  Now, the images are not as graphic as the text implies, although there is one image that details a young girl named Kate being struck by an axe and the image shows a little girl being covered in blood with an axe being embedded into her body.  Parents might want to make sure that their children can handle dark imagery and themes in certain books that are considered too dark.

Overall, speaking as an adult who loves morbid and creepy books, “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” is a truly brilliant book that fans of books that are creepy and morbid will greatly enjoy for many years to come! Now speaking as an adult who is trying to figure out the right age set that this book should be aimed at, I would recommend this book to children ages seven and up since the theme of death would be a bit too scary for smaller children and it could easily give them nightmares for a long time.